Heart Tracks - Day Old Bread

"The One who existed from the beginning is the One we have seen and heard. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is Jesus Christ the Word of life. This One who is life from God was shown to us and we have seen Him." I John 1-2a...."God walked with us as a personal Savior. Now we have the joy and responsibility of walking as He walked...near broken people, as lights to lead the way home." Alicia Britt-Chole

A short way from where I grew up there used to be a very popular bakery. My brother still calls it the best one he's ever known. I remember when going with my dad to this bakery, that off to the side was a rack that contained baked goods, mainly bread, with a small sign that read, "Day Old Bread." It was bread that hadn't been sold the previous day, and now could be had at a much reduced price. It wasn't useless bread, it just wasn't fresh. It wasn't the best. It wasn't in the front display case anymore. In a way, it was second-hand.....I share this because I think for a good many in the church, we are living on day old, second-hand bread, rather than getting it fresh and new directly from His hand and heart.

I heard Beth Moore speaking recently of the absolute need of having "fresh encounters" with Him on regular basis. If not, our spiritual lives grow stale and old. The "bread" grows stale and old. The next stage for stale bread is moldy bread. How many might be nearing such a stage with and in Him?

I love the words of I John 1:1. He and the other disciples knew and ministered to others, a Christ who was fresh and whole to them, and remained so. Their opportunity to physically touch, handle and see Him lasted a short while, but their intimacy and knowledge of Him flowed out of a daily walk that saw Him with spiritual eyes, and handled Him with spiritual hands. This being the case, they were able, in powerful ways, to be the lights, His Light. Light that would lead the lives they ministered to, home. His home. His heart. The bread they ate fresh and whole each day from Him, was in turn, distributed to those He charged them to tend to. It was in this way that His miracle of the feeding of the 5000 could be repeated again and again spiritually. Hungry souls being given heavenly bread, and in an unlimited supply. It's a miracle He means to be happening through His people today. Is it happening through you and I?

I think we settle for day old bread and do so in two ways. First off, our lives are filled with so much "stuff" that we're simply too busy to take the time to just be still in His Presence and feed on the bread of His Word. Too busy to get it fresh and whole, so we settle for snatches of it, grabbed off the rack. A chapter of the Bible read here, a quick devotional there. It's the way for a good many of us. Then, there is the second way, also pursued by a large number. We listen to what men and women have to say about the Bread. We go to church, Bible study, small groups. We read books and we take notes. We know what others have said about their experience of touching, seeing, and handling Him. We know about their experience, we just don't have such an experience ourselves. So we depend upon theirs. We too find ourselves at the day old bread rack. Getting second-hand bread. All the while He is before us, offering it fresh. A fresh encounter .....with Himself.

A lost world is desperate for those who have seen, touched and handled Him. They are desperate for those who have His Bread, who are able to share it, and in doing so, point the way Home to Him. Will you and I be such ones? Whether we are in the pulpit, the lectern, the workplace or the home and neighborhood, will we be the ones to offer the fresh Bread of His life to those who are starving all around us? Or, do we continue to hang out at the day old bread rack?

Blessings,
Pastor O